Loss, Change, and Political Understandings in Rural America

• In Event: 3146 - Regular Session on Rural Sociology

Abstract

Based in in-depth interviews and ethnographic research conducted in a rural Northwest community, this paper explores the forces behind rural working-class political understandings, with a focus on seeing rural residents as citizens reacting to national trends that impact them on a local scale. I investigate the interplays of deindustrialization, rural gentrification, labor market marginalization, and growing inequality with political beliefs and preferences. I connect political understandings to direct experiences with inequality, capricious government regulations and interventions, changing economic fortunes, and mainstream media messaging. I trace how experiences with loss of status, power, and economic stability are harnessed by right-wing media outlets to resonate with American cultural norms and values. I argue for viewing rural and working-class populations not as ignorant, overly-emotional, or self-defeating, but rather as reacting predictably to national trends including downward mobility and growing inequality, as well as the apathy, privilege, and dismissal of their left-leaning neighbors. 

Author

• Jennifer Sherman, Washington State University